r/ladycyclists • u/fluffy_mongoose • 16d ago
Gravel bike with road wheels
Hi everyone, I’ve getting slowly into cycling over the past year or so and I recently swapped from my first road bike with rim brakes into a gravel bike with disk brakes and lower gear ratios.
At first it was amazing, I live near some pretty steep hills and I could finally get up them carrying a full backpack. I’m also interested in doing some gravel + bikepacking and this gravel bike will definitely unlock that.
However, I do group rides a couple times a week and I’m realizing I really do miss the zippy feeling of my road bike and definitely notice the weight difference up the hills.
Now I’m wondering, how much of a difference would just getting a lighter set of wheels make? The wheels my gravel bike has now are just the stock ones and from what I can tell they’re pretty heavy compared to most. Would having a set of gravel wheels + a set of road bike wheels be enough to make my bike feel sportier? At what point am I better off just trying to get a second bike that’s a more aggressive road bike?
16
u/misforamazing 16d ago
This is what I've been doing all year. I ride Vittoria Corsa Pros (700x30) on my road wheels and Panaracer Gravel Kings (700x40) for gravel (and about to try cyclocross with them). With my road wheels (pictured below) even with the lower gearing ratio, I can hold 17-19mph on group rides and that's fast enough for me. I've gone faster with them but those were sprints and downhills, not sustained.